unemployment insurance for 2 million americans and lays the groundwork for further work on both and deficit reduction. >> pam: this comes after house speaker john boehner failed to gain enough of his party's support. to his "plan b". his proposal would have raised taxes only on those americans making more than one million dollars a year. without a deal, steep tax hikes and massive government spending cuts are set to trigger after january first. as the fiscal cliff countdown continues. house and senate members have already recessed for the holidays. >> president obama will nominate senator john kerry as the next secretary of state. he made the announcement at the white house today. current secretary of state hillary clinton is stepping down in january.u-n ambassador susan rice was reportedly on the short list, but took herself off it, citing a "lengthy, disruptive, and costly" confirmation process after republicans took issue with her remarks on the deadly benghazi attack killed 4 americans in libya. >> and after the president's busy day. he and the first family are now heading for hawaii. t